We hadn’t spoken of my time in the camp. Not my arrest, not how I’d earned the five round scars she looked at when she thought I wasn’t paying attention, not the story behind my flogging, certainly not Fritzsch. She was concerned that I was being too quiet—I’d overheard her telling Franz, who assured her I’d be fine—but I was quiet because I had a lot on my mind. Otherwise, our friendship had returned to normal.

I reclined, slipped my hand into my front pocket, and passed my fingers over the rosary beads. Sometimes I forgot I wasn’t wearing my blue-and-gray-striped uniform. Since we’d come to the farm, we’d purchased a few items from town, including new clothes. If any of my garments didn’t come equipped with pockets, I sewed them on.

Brushing flecks of grass off my skirt, I stood, and we cleaned up the remnants of our picnic. I was folding the blanket when I heard Franz’s car parking near the barn, then a shout floated across the field and reached my ears.

“Are you going to say hello to me or not, shikse?”

At once, I dropped the blanket. I’d have known that voice anywhere, but I had to see its owner to believe it. Sure enough, there she was, standing next to Franz and grinning, and I sprinted across the field and didn’t stop until I’d caught her in my arms.

“Careful, you’ll knock us both over,” Hania said, laughing as she returned the fierce embrace. “Let me look at you.”

She took my face in her hands, and I held on to her wrists, reassuring myself that she was real. Releasing her felt like it would wake me from a better dream than any I’d had in a long time. But she was here, truly here, as real as I was. Her familiar dark eyes sparkled with vibrance, and her thick, dark hair was short, but growing back even faster than mine. She wore a simple dress, and it hugged a frame that was reshaping into delicate curves.

After a moment, Hania stroked her thumbs across my cheeks, as if reassuring herself that I was real, too, before kissing them. “You’re more beautiful than ever, Maria.”

“So are you, Bubbe,” I whispered. “Franz, you knew Hania was alive all this time?”

“I spent my whole first day in the camp looking for her, and when I found her, I said shikse sent love to Bubbe, like you told me to. That’s all it took to convince her to trust me.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”